2013 departures

"2013 departures" Continued...

Patty Andrews | 94

Jan. 30 Last surviving member of the Andrews Sisters, a top recording, stage, and film vocal trio in the Big Band Era that sold more than 80 million records and recorded more than 400 songs (“Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” “Rum and Coca-Cola,” “I’ll Be with You in Apple Blossom Time”).

George Aratani | 95

Feb. 19 Japanese-American businessman in Los Angeles who founded the Mikasa china and Kenwood electronics firms, and endowed the first U.S. academic chair for the study of the World War II internment of Japanese-Americans; he and his extended family had been interned.

Conrad Bain | 89

Jan.14 Actor best known for his role as the wealthy white adoptive father of two poor black young men on the long-running television comedy Diff’rent Strokes.

Frank Bank | 71

April 13 Actor who played the dim-witted “Lumpy” on TV’s Leave It to Beaver.

Darren Carroll/Getty Images

Miller Barber

Miller Barber | 82

June 11 U.S. professional golfer who constantly battled sneezing bouts on the course but played in nearly 1,300 tournaments, earning more than $5.6 million.

Robert Bellah | 86

July 30 Berkeley sociologist who probed the intersection of American culture and civic order with faith and America’s moral underpinnings.

Lindy Boggs | 97

July 27 Democratic Louisiana congresswoman for 18 years after taking over the seat of her late husband, Hale Boggs. She championed civil rights and was the only white member of Congress elected from a majority-black district.

Marguerite Bonnema | 99

Jan. 29 Co-founder in the 1940s (with the late Mary DeBoer VandenBosch) of Bethany Christian Services in Grand Rapids, Mich., now America’s largest adoption agency.

Amar Bose | 83

July 12 Engineer, inventor, and founder of the Bose Corporation, maker of top audio systems and speakers.

Antonia Brenner | 86

Oct. 17 Beverly Hills mom of seven who in midlife became a Catholic nun and moved into a Tijuana prison cell, spending more than three decades ministering to inmates, who honored her as “The Prison Angel.”

Joyce Brothers | 85

May 13 Psychologist who counseled millions for five decades on love, marriage, sex, and raising children via radio, TV, and columns in magazines and newspapers.

James M. Buchanan | 93

Will D. Campbell | 88

June 3 Gadfly country preacher off a Mississippi cotton farm and educated at Yale Divinity School. His sermons, writings, and activism made him a well-known white in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s.

Scott Carpenter | 88

Oct. 10 Second American to orbit Earth (May 1962). His was an error-pocked mission nearly ending in disaster. He never flew in space again.

Juan Barreto/AFP/Getty Images

Hugo Chavez

André Cassagnes | 86

Jan. 16 French electrical engineer and National Toy Hall of Fame inductee who created the iconic Etch A Sketch toy that has sold more than 150 million since 1960.

Hugo Chavez | 58

March 5 Flamboyant leftist U.S. foe who won the Venezuelan presidency in 1998 and subsequent elections, survived a coup attempt, and worked to convert his oil-rich country into a socialist state, using repressive measures to silence opposition.

Tom Clancy | 66

Oct. 1 With more than 100 million copies of his 28 novels in print, he was one of the world’s best-selling, best-known authors. Some of his spy-tech and military-themed thrillers became Hollywood blockbusters, including Red Storm Rising and Patriot Games. He sold his first book, The Hunt for Red October, to little-known Naval Institute Press for only $5,000; it was published in 1985.

William P. ‘Judge’ Clark | 81

Aug. 10 One of President Ronald Reagan’s most trusted and influential confidants who helped shape Reagan’s Cold War policy. An ardently pro-life Catholic Democrat, he left his seat on the California Supreme Court to serve as chief of staff for Reagan after his election as governor of California. He also served Reagan’s presidency as deputy secretary of state, national security advisor, and interior secretary.

Chang W. Lee/The New York Times/redux

Van Cliburn

Van Cliburn | 78

Feb. 27 World-renowned pianist from Kilgore, Texas, whose triumph at age 23 at the inaugural 1958 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow helped thaw the Cold War, earning him a New York City ticker tape parade.

Joe Conley | 85

July 7 Actor best known as Ike Godsey, a small-town storekeeper and postmaster on the TV series The Waltons (1972 to 1981).

Paul Crouch | 79

Nov. 30 Pentecostal television entrepreneur who in 1973 founded Trinity Broadcasting Network and grew it into the nation’s largest religious TV network. He and his wife Jan also hosted their own two-hour nightly TBN variety show, Praise the Lord.

William R. Cutrer | 62

July 13 Former Dallas gynecologist, obstetrician, and seminary graduate who was a professor of medical ethics and family-life ministry at Southern Baptist Seminary starting in 1999. He was a hands-on pro-life advocate and worker in the Louisville, Ky., area, a family-life conference speaker, and author or co-author of Sexual Intimacy in Marriage, The Infertility Companion, Lethal Harvest, and The Church Leader’s Handbook: A Guide to Counseling Families and Individuals in Crisis.

Pat Derby | 70

Feb. 15 Animal trainer who worked with Hollywood “stars” Flipper and Lassie, and later became devoted to protecting performing animals after seeing widespread abuse, as exposed in her 1976 autobiography, The Lady and Her Tiger.

Ray Dolby | 80

Sept. 12 Pioneering sound engineer who in the 1960s invented a system that removed the hiss from audio tapes, revolutionizing the recording industry. In 1977 he also developed “surround sound,” which is used in movie theaters worldwide.

Disney/ABC

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert | 70

April 4 The first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize—for his 1,975 reviews written in his Chicago Sun-Times columns. He also co-hosted a TV show, serving up critiques that could boost or doom a film’s box-office take.

Robert Edgar | 69

April 23 Affable United Methodist minister, Democratic congressman (Pa.), and 10-year president of Claremont School of Theology. In 2000 he became general secretary of the troubled National Council of Churches, and then president of Common Cause, the Washington, D.C.–based liberal advocacy group.

Robert Edwards | 87

April 10 University of Cambridge professor and Nobel Prize winner known as “the father of in vitro fertilization.” In 1978, working with the late gynecologist Patrick Steptoe, he helped a woman give birth to the world’s first test tube baby.

Jean Bethke Elshtain | 72

Aug. 11 Christian ethicist and philosopher of politics and religion known for her work on just war, the disabled, and abortion ethics.

Douglas Engelbart | 88

July 2 Silicon Valley engineer who, with a colleague at Stanford Research Institute in 1963, invented the computer mouse.

Ann Summa/Getty Images

Dennis Farina

Dennis Farina | 69

July 22 Real-life Chicago police officer who later acted in films (Midnight Run, Get Shorty) and TV dramas, portraying Detective Joe Fontana in NBC’s Law and Order.

Vince Flynn | 47

June 19 Best-selling author of 14 counterterrorism thriller novels. The books sold more than 15 million copies in the United States and millions more abroad.

Robert W. Fogel | 86

June 11 University of Chicago economics historian awarded a Nobel Prize for his data-driven, controversy-generating claim that Southern slavery was an economically rational and efficient system that collapsed for political rather than economic reasons.

Thomas Foley | 84

Oct. 18 Democrat elected to Congress in 1964 who served for 30 years, the final 4½ as speaker of the House. The Republican “revolution” of 1994 swept him from office, with Democrats losing their 40-year House dominance.

Joan Fontaine | 96

Dec. 15 Standout actress (and sister of Olivia de Havilland) who starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1940 film Rebecca, won a best-actress Academy Award for her role as a terrified newlywed in Hitchcock’s Suspicion, and played the title character in Jane Eyre (1944).

Bonnie Franklin | 69

March 1 Perky red-headed stage and television actress who played a single mom raising two teenage girls in the CBS sitcom One Day at a Time.

David Frost | 74

Aug. 31 British broadcaster who interviewed nearly every sitting U.S. president and British prime minister during his 50-year career. A Methodist minister’s son, he spoke of his Christian faith in his later years. In 2001 he boosted Bible teaching and evangelism in Britain by hosting a 10-week TV series on the Alpha Course, which explores the meaning of life through basic Christian tenets.

Associated Press

Annette Funicello

Annette Funicello | 70

April 8 The most popular Mouseketeer on The Mickey Mouse Club, a role she began at age 13 in 1955. She was the only Mouseketeer kept under contract to Walt Disney when the club ended in 1959, and became a successful recording star and actress in Disney movies.

John Galardi | 75

April 13 Fast-food entrepreneur who opened a Wienerschnitzel hotdog stand in Los Angeles in 1961, then franchised to about 350 outlets in 10 states, creating America’s largest hotdog chain and selling more than 120 million hotdogs annually.

James Gandolfini | 51

June 19 Actor famous for his portrayal of lethal-yet-lovable mob boss Tony Soprano on HBO’s hit show The Sopranos.

Leonard Garment | 89

July 13 Lawyer, White House counsel, and personal friend to President Richard Nixon during Watergate despite being a liberal Democrat. He discouraged Nixon from destroying White House tapes, pushed unsuccessfully for the president’s early resignation in 1973, and recommended Nixon’s pardon to his successor, Gerald Ford.

Jack Germond | 85

Aug. 14 Colorful “old school” political journalist, syndicated columnist, and sometimes cantankerous TV panelist on The McLaughlin Group. During his 50 years in journalism, he was Washington bureau chief for the Gannett newspaper chain and wrote for The Washington Star (now defunct) and The Baltimore Sun.

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Eydie Gorme with Steve Lawrence

Eydie Gorme | 84

Aug. 10 Popular nightclub and television soloist as well as Grammy- and Emmy-winning member of a duo with husband Steve Lawrence. Hit recordings included “Blame It on the Bossa Nova” (1963) and “Amor” (1964).

William H. Gray III | 71

July 1 Philadelphia megachurch pastor elected in 1978 to the U.S. Congress as a Democrat, becoming majority whip in 1989—the highest-ranking African-American lawmaker at the time. He continued preaching each Sunday at his Bright Hope Baptist Church. In 1991 he resigned from Congress to head the United Negro College Fund, raising more than $2 billion.

Andrew Greeley | 85

May 29 Notable University of Chicago sociologist of religion and prolific author (72 nonfiction books, 66 novels). He was a diocesan Catholic priest and the noisiest liberal critic of the Roman Catholic Church of his era.

L.C. Greenwood | 67

Sept. 29 Sack-happy defensive end for the Pittsburgh Steelers. From 1969 to 1981 he was part of the Steelers’ “Steel Curtain” front four, helping lead his team to four Super Bowl victories.

Associated Press/Photo by Michael Tweed

Julie Harris

Ben Haden | 88

Oct. 24 CIA agent, lawyer, newspaper executive, and 1954 Christian convert from atheism, he succeeded Donald Grey Barnhouse in 1966 as radio speaker on the Bible Study Hour broadcast. He pastored Key Biscayne (Fla.) Presbyterian Church in the 1960s and First Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Chattanooga for 31 years.

Julie Harris | 87

Aug. 24 Broadway and film actress who was Lilimae Clements on the prime-time TV soap Knots Landing and James Dean’s romantic co-star in East of Eden (1955).

Richie Havens | 72

April 22 Guitar-playing, gravel-voiced folk singer whose breakthrough came as a stand-in for the traffic-delayed opening act at the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival in New York.

Howard G. ‘Prof.’ Hendricks | 88

Feb. 20 Witty Dallas Seminary professor for more than 60 years, author of 16 books, lecturer and conference speaker in some 80 countries, and Dallas Cowboys’ chaplain. He urged students to “put the cookies on the lower shelf” when communicating the Word of God.

Dave Hunt | 86

April 5 Controversial Christian apologist, speaker, radio commentator, publisher (The Berean Call), and author or co-author of books selling in the millions, including The Cult Explosion and The Seduction of Christianity.

George Hutchinson | 74

June 17 Presbyterian Church in America missionary and educator who co-founded a Giessen, Germany, evangelical seminary and was director of Church Planting International, which has launched hundreds of Presbyterian churches in Africa and elsewhere since 1995. He died in an car wreck while visiting Ugandan churches.

Haynes Johnson | 81

May 24 Washington-based, Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter, professor, and TV commentator (PBS’s Washington Week in Review and NewsHour with Jim Lehrer). He authored In the Absence of Power about the Carter presidency and Sleepwalking Through History: America in the Reagan Years. He won a 1966 Pulitzer for coverage of the civil rights movement in Selma, Ala.

Virginia Johnson | 88

July 24 Writer, researcher, sex therapist, and half of the famed Masters and Johnson duo. In 1966 they gained fame with their first book, Human Sexual Response. She began as a research assistant to gynecologist William H. Masters. Later they married and ushered into the general public a frank-yet-scholarly discussion of the physiology of sex.

David ‘Deacon’ Jones | 74

June 3 Hall of Fame defensive end who coined the term sack to describe tackling a quarterback behind the line of scrimmage. He played from 1961 to 1974 for the Los Angeles Rams’ “Fearsome Foursome” defense, then for the San Diego Chargers and Washington Redskins. Nicknamed “The Secretary of Defense.”

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

George Jones

George Jones | 81

April 26 Hard-living country music legend who nevertheless inspired generations of performers and fans with his distinctive voice and steady string of songs beginning in the 1950s.

Stanley Karnow | 87

Jan. 27 Author of the 1983 best-selling Vietnam: A History, a definitive work on the Vietnam War that led to a multi-Emmy-winning PBS television series. Karnow won the 1990 Pulitzer in history for In Our Image: America’s Empire in the Philippines.

Jane Kean | 90

Nov. 26 Actress best known for her role as Trixie, the forbearing wife of Ed Norton, in the 1960s revival of The Honeymooners with Jackie Gleason, Art Carney, and Audrey Meadows.

Edward Koch | 88

Feb. 1 Colorful New York City Democratic mayor (1978-1989)—and prior to that, a four-term U.S. congressman—who rescued New York City from near-financial ruin. A self-described “liberal with sanity,” he sometimes supported Republicans, including President George W. Bush.

J. David Kuo | 44

April 5 Evangelical conservative who was a special assistant to President George W. Bush and deputy director of Bush’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Issues, and author of the 2006 bestseller Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction.

Bert Lance | 82

Aug. 15 Georgia “country banker” and Methodist lay leader who was Jimmy Carter’s director of the Office of Management and Budget, stepping down as the Justice Department publicly investigated his allegedly shady banking practices—accusations judged wrong in a 1980 trial.

Martyl ‘Marty’ Langsdorf | 96

March 26 Creator in 1947 of the famed “Doomsday Clock” image, with its minute hand set just before midnight.

Tom Laughlin | 82

Dec. 12 Maverick actor and filmmaker best known for the vigilante-themed “Billy Jack” films.

Ed Lauter | 74

Oct. 16 Versatile actor with a distinctive angular face and lopsided smile who appeared in more than 70 films, from The Longest Yard in 1974 to The Artist in 2011 (an Oscar winner). He also acted in TV detective shows and other shows including The Office and ER.

Elmore Leonard | 87

Aug. 20 Crime novelist who often set his novels in Detroit and saw some of them turned into films, including Get Shorty and Out of Sight.

Alex Leonovich | 90

March 13 Russian-born director of Slavic Missionary Service starting in 1958, he was an evangelist, missionary, pastor, and broadcaster, working among American Russian/Ukrainian communities, Slavic settlers in South America, and speaking to radio audiences across the former Soviet Union.

Anthony Lewis | 85

March 25 Two-time Pulitzer Prize–winning, law-and-justice columnist for The New York Times, whose influential work over 32 years in legal journalism often supported liberal causes.

Walter Dhladhla/AFP/Getty Images

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela | 95

Dec. 5 South Africa’s internationally acclaimed first black president and Nobel Peace Prize winner, who served from 1994 to 1999, following imprisonment for 27 years for opposing apartheid.

Brennan Manning | 78

April 12 Popular author, speaker, and theologian best known for The Ragamuffin Gospel and his 2011 memoir, All Is Grace.

Duke McCall | 98

April 2 Long-time Southern Baptist leader and educator, and president of Southern Baptist Seminary for 30 years.

Marian McPartland | 95

Aug. 20 British classical pianist who came to America in 1946 and became a master of jazz, in 1979 launching NPR’s “Piano Jazz” interview and performance show. She hosted the program for 32 years, winning a Peabody and a Grammy award.

George P. Mitchell | 94

July 26 Philanthropist and Texas energy pioneer who in the 1980s and ’90s became known as the father of hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”).

Cory Monteith | 31

July 13 Canadian actor who starred in the Fox hit musical comedy series Glee. He died after consuming a toxic mixture of heroin and alcohol.

Photofile/MLB Photos via Getty Images

Stan Musial

Stan Musial | 92

Jan. 19 Gentlemanly “Stan the Man” pitched then fielded 22 seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals. The Hall of Famer played in a record 24 All-Star games, won three National League MVP awards, and was arguably the greatest and most popular Cardinal in baseball history.

Al Neuharth | 89

April 19 Newspaper editor-turned-executive who grew the Gannett Company to 93 daily newspapers—including USA Today, which he founded in 1982. He also founded the Freedom Forum and its Newseum in suburban Washington, D.C.

Ken Norton | 70

Sept. 18 Boxer who broke Muhammad Ali’s jaw while winning their first bout, but lost the next two. He eventually became the World Boxing Council heavyweight champ.

David Levenson/Getty Images

Peter O'Toole

Peter O’Toole | 81

Dec. 14 British actor who rocketed to stardom playing the title role in the 1962 epic film Lawrence of Arabia.

Anne Ortlund | 89

Nov. 4 Well-known Christian speaker and best-selling author of books including Disciplines of a Beautiful Woman and Children Are Wet Cement.

T.L. Osborn | 89

Patti Page | 85

Jan. 1 Singing superstar of the post–World War II era whose recording of Tennessee Waltz sold 10 million copies. She was the centerpiece of TV shows and held movie roles such as the evangelical choir singer opposite Burt Lancaster in 1960’s Elmer Gantry.

Jack Pardee | 76

April 1 NFL All-Pro linebacker who played 13 seasons with the Los Angeles Rams, then two seasons with the Washington Redskins. He coached with the Chicago Bears, the Houston Oilers, and the Washington Redskins.

Barbara Park | 66

Nov. 15 Author of the Junie B. Jones series of 30 children’s books.

Eleanor Parker | 91

Dec. 9 Versatile Hollywood and TV actress with roles in three dozen films ranging from a terrified prisoner in Caged to the icy baroness in The Sound of Music.

Howard J. Phillips | 72

April 20 Long-time, hard-core conservative political activist in the Nixon and Reagan administrations who founded in 1974 the Conservative Coalition, a coordinating force of the “New Right.” He chaired CC until 2011. He also founded the U.S. Taxpayers Party—forerunner to the Constitution Party—and ran for president three times.

John McCandlish Phillips | 85

April 9 Towering, soft-spoken journalist from 1952 to 1973 for The New York Times. He won acclaim when—despite death threats—he exposed the Jewish ethnicity of top Ku Klux Klan leader Daniel Burros. At age 46 Phillips became a full-time evangelist with New Testament Missionary Fellowship, a small charismatic support community he co-founded in 1962. He also served with the World Journalism Institute.

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Pauline Phillips

Pauline Phillips | 94

Jan. 16 Author of the world’s most widely read advice column, “Dear Abby,” begun in 1956 under the pen name Abigail Van Buren. For more than 40 years she answered readers’ questions using saucy one-liners.

Ray Price | 87

Dec. 16 Country music great, with No. 1 hits like “Crazy Arms” and “City Lights.”

R.G. ‘Gene’ Puckett | 80

May 12 Veteran editor of Southern Baptist–related newspapers, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State (1979 to 1982), and outspoken co-founder in 1990 of Associated Baptist Press.

Lou Reed | 71

Oct. 27 Songwriter and guitarist who formed The Velvet Underground in the late 1960s.

Robert Reymond | 81

Sept. 20 Presbyterian author, pastor, and theologian who taught more than 25 years at Covenant and Knox seminaries. He authored New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith.

Hans Riegel | 90

Oct. 15 German candymaker of the “gummy bear” famed gelatin sweets.

Robinson Risner | 88

Oct. 22 Retired brigadier general and celebrated U.S. Air Force ace in the Korean and Vietnam wars. In 1965 he was shot down, captured, and imprisoned seven years in the “Hanoi Hilton,” where he organized a forbidden church service.

Dale Robertson | 89

Feb. 27 Ruggedly handsome actor who starred in movie and TV westerns, including as a stagecoach company troubleshooter in the Tales of Wells Fargo series (1957 to 1961). He appeared in more than 60 films and 430 television episodes.

Frederick Sanger | 95

Nov. 19 British biochemist, two-time winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry, and pioneer in genome sequencing.

Handout

Edith and Francis Schaeffer

Edith Schaeffer | 98

March 30 Partner with her late husband/theologian Francis in ministry and literary output, she and Francis were well-known for L’Abri, their open home in Switzerland that served as a “seekers” Christian study center from 1955 on. She authored or co-authored 20 books including Affliction and The Tapestry—both Gold Medallion Award winners from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.

Michael Schwartz | 63

Feb. 3 Devout Catholic and pro-life advocate, former lobbyist for Concerned Women for America, and head of the congressional House Family Caucus, who spent his last 15 years working with Tom Coburn, the Oklahoma congressman-turned-senator.

George Beverly Shea | 104

April 16 A Canadian transplant known as “America’s beloved gospel singer,” he was Billy Graham’s crusade soloist for more than 60 years, beginning in 1947. “The Wonder of It All,” which he wrote and composed, and “How Great Thou Art” were listeners’ favorites. The humble baritone recorded some 500 solos on more than 70 albums, and was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and Religious Broadcasting Hall of Fame.

Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Jean Stapleton

Chuck Smith | 86

Oct. 3 Influential pastor who formed a congregation of two dozen people in 1965 called Calvary Chapel (Costa Mesa, Calif.) that grew into a megachurch and a movement of about 1,500 affiliated churches in America and hundreds more abroad. He was at the forefront of the “Jesus movement” awakening of the late 1960s.

Jean Stapleton | 90

May 31 Emmy-winning actress who portrayed Edith Bunker, the long-suffering wife of her loud-mouthed, bigoted husband Archie Bunker on TV’s All in the Family series.

Risë Stevens | 99

March 20 Metropolitan Opera leading mezzo-soprano in the 1940s and ’50s whose defining role was Carmen. She appeared on Broadway in The King and I, in films including Going My Way, and in TV movies such as Little Women.

Steve Strauss | 57

June 11 Missionary, theological educator, and strategist who for 19 years served abroad with the evangelical mission agency SIM. He headed SIM U.S.A. for eight years, then joined Dallas Theological Seminary in 2010.

Maxine Stuart | 94

June 6 Veteran actress whose TV career spanned five decades in TV series (The Twilight Zone and The Wonder Years) and soap operas (The Edge of Night and The Young and the Restless).

Pat Summerall | 82

April 16 Place-kicker for the New York Giants who later teamed with former Oakland Raider head coach John Madden for 21 seasons as network TV’s most illustrious NFL sportscasting duo. In his autobiography, he told of becoming a born-again Christian during treatment for alcoholism at the Betty Ford rehab clinic in 1992.

Margaret Thatcher | 87

Helen Thomas | 92

July 20 First female member of the White House press corps, she covered 10 presidents from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama for United Press International and then Hearst Newspapers.

Ken Venturi | 82

May 17 Golfer who won 14 PGA tournaments, including the 1964 U.S. Open. After carpal tunnel surgery he went on to be CBS Sports’ chief golf analyst for 35 years.

Bernard Waber | 91

May 16 Author and illustrator of more than 30 children’s books, including The House on 88th Street, part of the Lyle series featuring a crocodile by that name.

Paul Walker | 40

Nov. 30 Star of the Fast and Furious movie series; died in a car crash.

Marcia Wallace | 70

Oct. 25 Actress who played Bob Newhart’s quick-witted receptionist during The Bob Newhart Show’s six seasons. She appeared on Murphy Brown and on game shows, and won a 1992 Emmy as the voice of schoolteacher Edna Krabappel on The Simpsons.

Essie Mae Washington-Williams | 87

Feb. 4 South Carolina U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond’s unacknowledged biracial daughter, who upon his death at age 100 announced she was the former segregationist’s child, and described his supportive role.

Rich Piling/MLB Photos via Getty Images

Earl Weaver

Earl Weaver | 82

Jan. 19 National Baseball Hall of Fame (1996) manager whose colorful and combative style helped steer the Baltimore Orioles to win four American League pennants and a World Series during his 17-year tenure.

Ned Wertimer | 89

Jan. 2 Actor who appeared in many popular TV series and was best known for his role as Ralph the doorman on all 11 seasons of The Jeffersons.

Dallas Willard | 77

May 8 Baptist minister-turned-philosopher and best-selling author (The Spirit of the Disciplines, The Divine Conspiracy, Renovation of the Heart) who taught at the University of Southern California for nearly half a century.

Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images

Esther Williams

Esther Williams | 91

June 6 Actress who starred in popular aqua-musical films in the 1940s and early ’50s (Bathing Beauty, Million Dollar Mermaid). Her synchronized-swimming-themed movies—and her ensuing advocacy for the sport—contributed to its 1984 launch in the Los Angeles Olympics.

Barbara Willke | 90

April 14 Cincinnati nurse and long-time pro-life champion who, along with her husband John, wrote books, organized local Right to Life chapters, and built the National Right to Life Committee. The Willkes’ Handbook on Abortion, translated into more than 20 languages, was an essential tool for activists.

Jonathan Winters | 87

April 11 Comedian and master of spontaneous and unpredictable ad-libs and characterizations, often matched with facial contortions and mimicked voices. He launched the era of improvisational comedy in the late 1950s.

Lee Thompson Young | 29

Aug. 19 Child actor in the Disney Channel hit series The Famous Jett Jackson. He was in the midst of filming the fourth season of TNT’s popular Rizzoli & Isles when he committed suicide.

Listen to Joseph Slife recall some of the notable deaths of 2013 on The World and Everything in It: